1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved cutting head for a food product slicing machine.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Machines for slicing or cutting food products, such as vegetables, nuts, and fruit, are well known in the art. A known slicing apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,824 and comprises a main frame, a drive motor, a stationary annular cutting head fixedly attached to the main frame and having a series of circumferentially spaced cutter support segments each with a cutting blade having a cutting edge mounted thereon, and a rotatable impeller surrounded by the cutting head and connected to a drive motor for rotation within the cutting head. The cutting head and the impeller are configured so that the impeller directs a food product outwardly against the cutting blades when the impeller is rotated within the cutting head.
The known cutting head further comprises a plurality of cutter support segments that have upper portions connected to an upper mounting ring and lower portions that are secured to a lower mounting ring. The cutting blade is attached to the forward edge portion of each cutter support segment so as to define a gate opening between the cutting edge of the blade and an adjacent cutter support segment, and clamp members are mounted to the cutter support segments to secure the cutting blade to the cutter support segment. Each of the cutter support segments includes normally extending opposed pivot pins that define a pivot axis and engage the upper and lower mounting rings. The pivot pins are generally located between a center distance of the cutter support segment and a rear edge of the cutting blade. This is due to the basic configuration of the cutter support segments, the clamp members and the blade. The gate opening is adjusted by at least one adjustment member configured to engage a pin attached near a rear edge portion of the cutter support segment and threaded into the upper and lower mounting rings generally along a line defined by their radii. The adjustment member is arranged to adjust the gate opening by being rotated to advance or withdraw the member relative to the upper and lower mounting rings, thereby urging the cutter support segment to pivot about the pivot axis to adjust the width of the gate opening and, consequently, adjust the thickness of the sliced food product.
In food processing, it is very important in cutting the food product into slices or shreds that the resultant food product has a uniform thickness. Such thickness uniformity facilitates further processing by yielding a maximum amount of usable food product with a minimum amount of waste. Furthermore, thickness uniformity enables uniform frying, roasting or melting of the sliced product, and produces an attractive food product to the consumer. Controlling the consistency of the thickness of the food products with the known cutting head requires accurate adjustment of the gate openings and coordination with the impeller disposed within the cutting head when mounted on the cuffing machine.
It has been found with the known cutting head that it is difficult and time consuming to precisely adjust the gate openings to a desired width, and thereby produce slices or shreds of uniform thickness. It follows that it is also difficult to achieve a uniform gate opening between each cutting blade and an adjacent rear edge of a cutter support segment, and it has been found that the known cutting head will yield an inconsistent slice or shred thickness about the circular array of cutter support segments for a given cutting operation. The problem associated with the known cutting heads stems in large pat from the location of the pivot pins relative to the cutting edge of the cutting blade, and with the configuration of the known cutter support segments, the pivot pin locations could not be brought closer to the cutting edge of the cutting blade to improve the geometry of the adjustment system.
Another drawback with the known cutting head is that a substantial portion of the blade intrudes within the central portion of the cutting head when the forward edge portion of the cutter support segment is pivoted inwardly towards the center of the cutting head. As a result, different sized impellers are required according to the size of the gate opening since the cutting blade that extends into the central portion of the cutting head reduces the effective diameter of the cutting head. This requires an operator of the machine to maintain a supply of different sized impellers, and further causes additional down time of cutting operations due to the need for impeller replacement.
In cutting food products, it has been found that in some instances, it is desirable to provide a cutting head with cutter support segments that have a more compact size and configuration including a shorter length. The compact size of the cutter support segments will permit a cutting apparatus to accommodate more cutter support segments which will result in greater throughput of the cutting operation. With more cutter support segments, it follows that more slices or shreds of the food product are achieved per revolution of the impeller, and this results in less time that the food product will be in contact with the cutter support segment before it is sliced or shredded. This may lead to less smearing of certain soft food products, such as cheeses, which are difficult to slice or shred due to their inherent soft and sticky nature. Furthermore, it has been shown that by providing a shorter cutter support segment under certain conditions, the horsepower requirement to cut a certain amount of food product is reduced.